International recognition of Kosovo

Foreign Minister Ivica Dacic said this on Thursday, on the occasion of media reports that said France plans to send protest notes to countries that withdraw their recognition of Kosovo's self-proclaimed independence.

"It seems to me that both are not possible," Dacic said in response to questions from journalists, while visiting the town of Sevojno.

EU member states will refer to Western Balkan nations as "partners" and not as "states" in the text expected to be adopted at the end of EU-Western Balkans summit in Sofia in May.

According to the Spanish newspaper, "the reason is not the EU foreign policy" - instead the goal is to avoid having the name and the signature of Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy "on the same document, at the same level" as that of the Kosovo leader.

Spain is among five EU member-states that do not recognize Kosovo as independent.

In the platform on what they called "the final phase of the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue" Pristina authorities state that the dialogue's goal is Kosovo's membership in the UN and "mutual recognition."

Dacic, however, points out that the dialogue has been "status-neutral from the outset", and that Kosovo's status cannot be "defined in advance," RTS reported over the weekend.

Dacic told the Belgrade-based newspaper over the weekend that this was his priority - and that it would help President Aleksandar Vucic, because his discussions about Kosovo would no longer proceed from "everything being a done deal".

Instead, the minister continued, Vucic will be able to say, "wait - in the last three months five countries revoked their recognition."

Kosovo's Parliament voted on April 4 to set up a committee to investigate how six Turkish citizens were arrested and deported to Turkey last week, a move that activists say violated human rights.

A previous version of this interview, published April 2, contained several substantial phrasing errors, now corrected.

This was done by Serbian Foreign Minister and First Deputy PM Ivica Dacic and Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

The two ministers also held a meeting, when they spoke about "possible directions of the development of bilateral cooperation, and exchanged opinions on the situation in the region and the world," the Serbian government announced.

The Brussels spokesperson for Bulgaria's EU Presidency, Genoveva Chervenakova, told this to daily Vecernje Novosti.

According to the Belgrade-based newspaper, the reason are "the changed circumstances" - since, beside Spain, Romania and Cyprus - also EU members who do not recognize Kosovo - are close to deciding not to attend the main discussion at the summit.